All that waiting just makes a body tired.
But the train finally came and we got on board for the ride into town, passing some very nice scenery on the way.
As well as some interesting scenery inside the train . . . .
And here's the budding young tour guide to tell you all about it:
Our first stop on the Freedom Trail was the Copp's Hill cemetery. It is really quite a nice looking cemetery, in spite of the slightly askew headstones. I doubt they are relations, but I did find a Jacob Hall and a Mary Richards. This "burying ground" dates back to 1659 and is named for a shoemaker, William Copp. Both Cotton & Increase Mather are buried here (back in a corner, under a tree). It is also believed to be the burial ground for almost 1,000 free African Americans from a community across the street.
And finally, because of its height, the British set up there cannons here in 1775 and fired upon the Battle of Bunker Hill. If you look closely, you can just make out the Bunker Hill monument through the tree right about in the middle of this photo.
Next stop on the Trail was the Old North Church, and the statue of Paul Revere. This is a shot from the South, looking north to the church.
So I thought this looked vaguely familiar - does anybody else? These are the organ pipes inside the Old North Church.
And these are the pews. Interesting, hmmmmmm.... We decided that this would be a pretty good set up for our chapels. Since everybody sits in the same place every week anyway, everybody could just be responsible for the upkeep of their pen (pew). And it would put an end to little ones getting away under the benches.
See, they all come with addresses, and the names of the current occupants. Don't know if these folks are just renters of if they have bought the real estate.
Just turn around from the shot of the statue above and you get this shot of the Catholic Church behind you. Rose Kennedy was christened here as an infant, and then 104 years later had her funeral mass here. The trail here went through a very obviously Italian part of town.
Right in the middle of which is Paul Revere's house. It is the oldest structure in downtown Boston, having been built in 1680. It was already 90 years old when Mr. Revere, aged 35 at the time, bought it in 1770 for a mere 53 pounds down and a mortgage of another 160 pounds. Paul R. ended up having a total of 16 children. This particular house looked a lot like all of the other houses of that period, but cost a bit more to enter. We took a bye on this one and walked on.
Ty is tuckered, so we found a nice park-like place for him to take a load of his (Jeff's) feet. Across the street was a "farmer's market" with all kinds of fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish! I loved it.
We could also see this sign from our resting spot. Some in our party thought it was a restaurant, but I thought it looked more like a hotel for rich oysters.
This is Faneuil Hall (a distant relative, I'm sure), also known as the "Cradle of Liberty". Built in 1742 as a center of commerce, it still has "market stalls" (little shops) in the cellar. The one we spent the most time at had books, flags, and maps. The original was much smaller and was rebuilt in 1763 and 1805. It was here that the Bostonians of the day fomented rebellion in the form of protests against the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Act, and the Redcoat occupation. They also formulated the Boston Tea Party from here. The original Samuel Adams held forth here, and staged the funeral for the victims of the "Boston massacre".
Lots of cool stuff in here.
This is John Adams in the middle and Fredrick Douglas on the left.
Directly to the east of Faneuil Hall is the Quincy Market. As you can see, on the day of our visit they were stringing up a guy - by his feet. Later he got out of it. Inside Quincy Market today are roughly 15 billion eateries where you can get literally anything to eat and drink; but only if you can get through the 15 trillion people attempting to do the same as you. We were finally victorious, I got bacon-wrapped scallops (yummmm), others in our party got corn dogs and Philly sandwiches.
We all sat on a planter outside in the great Springtime weather and had a picnic lunch.
After lunch we were pretty tuckered out, but went to one last site, the Old State House. John Adams would say of this place, "Then and there the child independence was born." I thought the lion and the unicorn were pretty cool looking, but they were torn down after the Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony in 1776. In 1770 the British soldiers guarding this, the seat of Massachusets government, opened fire upon a crowd that was pelting them with rocks and bottles, resulting in what was later called the "Boston Massacre". John Adams, a local attorney, was selected to defend the soldiers, which he figured would end his career as an attorney regardless of the final decision. He did his duty, however, and got them all off - greatly enhancing his reputation for intelligent application of the law, as well as steadfast dedication to truth and justice.
